Brig. Gen. Sani Usman, the Director, Army Public Relations, in a news programme on NTA however revealed that the Ministry of Defence was still working towards receiving the money from government.

“People should understand also that this is a democratic system in which the procurement, and of course, the funding of defence-related issues take such a long time. Take for instance the issue of the $1bn approved recently by Mr. President, up till now the process is ongoing,” he said.

“The Ministry of Defence is still pursuing the matter to the point that when it is done, the armed forces will definitely get more equipment, more arms and ammunition.

“To the best of our abilities, all the necessary equipment, ammunition and arms are being given. It is so sad and unfortunate that our troops came under enemy attacks on November 18, and we suffered causalities as we mentioned. Sadly, we lost 23 soldiers, and of course, some of them sustained injuries.

“In respect of the effort, we are trying as much as possible to make sure that first and foremost we give timely and accurate information on all our activities and operations, bearing national security concern.”